What happens in a bathroom with toddlers

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Quilted Northern. All opinions are 100% mine. Don’t you know that when you have small children a good part of your day is spent in the bathroom? Here’s the shenanigans my bathroom has seen over the years with kids.

Normal people spend a certain amount of time in bathrooms. It’s life. But moms of little ones spend, in my humble opinion, an inordinate amount of time in bathrooms. Public restrooms included. I’d even say that aside from the kitchen it is the most frequented place in the house.

And I’m not sure why really. Or maybe it’s just the layout of my house, but it’s central to our daily activities. It’s not as though I set up kids’ activities in there to play. Although I guess that might not be a bad idea since sometimes I put all the kids in the bathroom and lock us in until I’m done doing what I’m doing. It’s a method I call corralling.

The things your penguin sees in a bathroom with toddlers…. #HelpMeForget #ad @QuiltedNorthern pic.twitter.com/VGsixsw98j

— Rachel Norman (@momfarfromhome) June 2, 2015

Above is our little friendly penguin who has seen all the shenanigans that happen in the bathroom for a good while now. If he had a camera… I’d stop blogging. Here are some things that happen in the bathroom when you have toddlers.

1. Time clocked on the potty.

When you’re potty training the time spent on the potty is just endless. And let’s be honest, even afterwards. My oldest is potty trained, but she kinda likes company in the bathroom. I don’t write much about potty training because I stink at it. No pun intended. But moms of little ones know that much of the day is spent squatting in front of the toilet trying to convince your child to stay on it.

2. Mommy locking herself inside. 

Sometimes when everyone is occupied I’ll go to the bathroom and, if there’s another adult in the home to field any screaming, I’ll lock the door. Even if I don’t really have to go. Sometimes I’ll just sit there in silence. Or trim nails. Or read a book or check Facebook or emails. This usually lasts two minutes and then someone is knocking at the door. But in all seriousness, the bathroom is a good place to make a few minutes of alone time happen.

3. Overflowing sinks. 

I like for the kids to learn cause and effect. I don’t like those lessons to come because they’ve flooded the bathroom, however. We have stools and I’ve often let my oldest “practice” washing her hands. I actually think the bathroom is a great place for this because it’s built with waterproof floors and for drainage. I don’t allow my 20 month old to participate, but my oldest two like running water into cups, filling the sink, washing their toys, their hands, and anything else within reach. I do, however, need to make a strict rule about wet wash because they still seem to get thrown around.

4. The soap cycle. 

I usually wash the kids with child friendly bath wash and shampoo. But sometimes I just clean them with gentle soap. Because it’s a rarity, I believe every single child who has control of their hands in my family has played with soap, wiped their eyes, screamed, continued to try to wipe their eyes, screamed more, etc. You know. The soap cycle. I will say this is something I’d think they’d learn the first time, but alas. Soap is, apparently, tempting. Side note, I use lye soap for my infant’s eczema which I do not keep anywhere within reach.  Have you found a good soap to be used on kids with eczema?

5. The toilet paper unroll.

I sometimes want to just let each child unroll an entire roll of toilet paper. There is obviously something intrinsically satisfying about unrolling it. My bathrooms have seen quite a few instances of unrolled toilet paper, but they do get better as they get older. If the paper is low quality and tantamount to wiping with your hand, I don’t really mind. If it’s high quality toilet paper like Quilted Northern then I make them roll the entire thing back up. Which means it is, of course, about twice the size of their head after that. But I’m not wasting the good stuff.

6. Teeth brushing shenanigans. 

I think brushing the kids’ teeth is fun. They get special toothpaste and toothbrushes and it seems interesting. Then they leave that phase and go into the “I don’t want to brush my teeth phase.” Not that it matter much, but it does make for more unpleasant bathroom time. My oldest two are now in the phase where they want to brush their own teeth and I usually let them, and then go behind to make sure they get the harder to reach areas. My dentist said to be sure and gently go all the way back to the back teeth on all sides purposefully because those tend to get plaque build up since kids just tend to brush the front.

7. Makeup application.

I remember finding my mother’s eye shadow when i was younger, and painting my entire face. Blue. “The first rule of makeup is that you can never wear enough blue eye shadow.” My kids like to watch me put on makeup. Probably because I only do it once a week for church on Sunday and only then because 4 kids in 4 years has given me blue bags under my eyes even though I sleep 10 hours a night. My daughter likes to use my thick makeup brushes on her cheeks, nose, and forehead. She probably tries to put on makeup more often than I do.

8. Slip and slide. 

You know what I mean… the wet floor. The seemingly innocuous but dangerous wet floor. Not one, but all of my kids (minus baby who doesn’t walk) have slipped on wet floor and hit their heads. My daughter slipped so hard fell backwards and hit her head on the lip of the shower and got a huge knot. I’m relaying these events as I assume they happened since I was so traumatized I blocked it out.

9. Shared baths. 

Why should kids use all the bubbles? Both my husband and myself have taken countless tub baths (and showers) with the kids. When I have a child not feeling well I like to take a bath with them to relax. Wear a bathing suit if you feel the need, but that one on one time in a calm atmosphere really does wonders. Also, we prefer the assembly line shower to bathing many nights. One adult will shower and we’ll bring the kids in one by one to bathe. When one’s finished, they put on their shower hoodies and then another comes in. This tends to cut down on the bath mania that can happen right before bed.

10. Throw everything in the toilet. 

I kid you not, in one 24 hour period (maybe it was 48?) one son threw a cell phone, baby monitor, and computer mouse into the toilet. He was around 14 months at the time and I felt like a failure of a mother. We cracked down after that and he’s never done it again, but over the years I can’t tell you what has found its way in the toilet. Toothbrushes, rubber duckies, pens, pencils, deodorant, you name it. It’s fascinating, I suppose, toilet water…

Quilted Northern has some videos directed by an Academy Award nominee designed around their premise that toilet paper should be so awesome that your bathroom experience is forgettable. They made a #HelpMeForget video series that are seriously funny. You can watch the Designed to be Forgotten videos here. And you can also follow Quilted Northern on Facebook and YouTube!